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RainedOut Text Alerts Adopted by Soccer Coach Association

October 27, 2010

(SPORTS TECHNOLOGY)

Omnilert, maker of RainedOut, is one of the leading providers of event and group communications. The company recently announced the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) selected its FREE+ RainedOut alert service to be the official messaging provider for NSCAA and its 30,000 members.

NSCAA is currently the largest soccer coach organization in the world and highly recommends RainedOut to help coaches solve their group communication challenges. RainedOut gives the individual a standard cell phone that has the ability to broadcast a single message to large groups of people who receive it simultaneously as text messages, e-mails, Web page updates, and social networking posts. It is ideal to inform people about games that are canceled, give directions, and more. Coaches that use RainedOut will help raise funds for NSCAA, because NSCAA is now an affiliate of RainedOut and will receive a portion of ad revenue generated from the coaches' sponsored alerts. Coaches can visit the website and create their own account.

"The RainedOut service gives us the opportunity to effectively and efficiently communicate up-to-the-minute event changes and updates to our attendees at the upcoming NSCAA Convention in Baltimore, Jan. 12 to 16,” said Joe Cummings, NSCAA CEO and executive director. “This tool will also allow us to communicate with our members about the membership services and educational offerings provided by the NSCAA throughout the year. The free service that RainedOut provides coaches will make their lives easier and reduce the challenges they have in communicating with their athletes off the field. We are excited to promote this new and innovative tool to our membership."

NSCAA will also make use of RainedOut's multimodal group alerting services for instant, localized communication to attendees at the annual NSCAA Convention, which is the "largest gathering of soccer coaches in the world." Vendors who are associated with the convention can bid on the rights to advertise in NSCAA's messages, and in turn raise additional funds for NSCAA while providing a valuable event communication service for attendees, speakers, and exhibitors.

RainedOut is a "FREE+" or "Free Plus" service which is a new breed of social media that designates the service as not only free, but also has a fundraising aspect that enables organizations to raise money by finding sponsors for their messages. At the end of each RainedOut message, there is a brief advertisement included. If an organization recruits its own sponsors, then the organization will receive a portion of the advertising revenue, called a GiftBack.

Calvin Azuri is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Calvin’s articles, please visit his columnist page.